STATUTES. 1. An act for the better regulating porters employed within the town of Boston,1 passed in seventeen hundred and forty-one, and originally to continue for seven years, and no longer, but made perpetual March the seventh, seventeen hundred and ninety-seven, provided,— Selectmen (board appoint porters. 1741, § 1. of aldermen) to 1796, c. 69. wages. That the selectmen 2 of the town of Boston, for the time being, shall have full power and authority to order what number, and who, shall be employed, and take upon them the business of carrying goods, wares, and merchandises, for pay or wages, as To regulate their common porters within the said town; and what rate or price such persons shall ask, receive, and take for their labor, service, and attendance, according to the distance of place or other circumstances, the selectmen shall order and ascertain; all which persons, so admitted by the selectmen, shall at all times, when in the service or doing the business of porters, wear a badge or ticket, with the figure of a pine-tree marked thereon, on some Ibid. part of his upper garment or girdle; which badge or ticket shall be numbered, and a fair entry of each porter's ticket made in the selectmen's books, as also the wages they are to ask and receive, within ten days after the approbation of the selectmen as aforesaid. Porters to wear badges. unlicensed acting as porters. 2. That whosoever shall presume to take up the business and Penalty for persons employ of a common porter, and convey or carry goods and merchandise from place to place, within the town of Boston, for Ibid. § 2. hire or wages, without being admitted by the selectmen as aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings for every time he shall be convicted thereof, before any one of his majesty's justices of the peace, within the county of Suffolk, at Boston 1 The preamble of this act was as follows: Whereas, the trade and business managed in the town of Boston, between the inhabitants thereof and others trafficking there, occasions many persons to resort to, and attend about, the wharves, docks, and other parts of the town, to convey and carry goods, wares, and merchandises, from place to place, some of whom are not so well known as such an employment requires, others of no good character, yet ofttimes have goods of a considerable value put into their custody for conveyance as aforesaid, and some taking upon them the business of porter, impose upon those making use of them, more especially strangers, by exacting exorbitant wages for their labor, or refusing business, though not before employed, if they cannot have their unreasonable demands: Therefore, to avoid such inconveniences for the future, Be it enacted," &c. 2 By the city charter, see ante, p. 15, § 33, the powers previously vested in the selectmen are vested in the board of aldermen. 1741, § 2. Penalty for asking more than selectmen allow for services. Ibid. § 3. aforesaid; the one-half of which fine or forfeiture should be disposed of to and for the use of the poor of the town of Boston, the other one-half to him or them that shall inform and sue for the same. 3. That whosoever, being admitted as a porter as aforesaid, shall ask, take, and receive any more than what the selectmen shall allow for any work or service, shall, for every such exaction, forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings, to be recovered and Penalty for appear- disposed of as hereinbefore directed; and if any person admitted and approved of as aforesaid, as a common porter, shall officiate or concern himself in the business of transporting goods or merchandise, not having his badge or ticket, shall, for every such breach of the said act, forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings, to be recovered and disposed of as aforesaid. ing without a badge. Ibid. Security to be given by porters. Ibid. § 4. They may be removed for dis 4. That the selectmen shall require and take bond of each one of the porters admitted as aforesaid, with sufficient surety, in a sum not exceeding fifty pounds, for their orderly and faithful acting in the business; more especially their safe conveying and delivering such goods as shall be committed to them; and that upon complaint made to the selectmen that any whom they may have admitted as aforesaid do not behave and conduct themselves See Charter, p. 15, orderly, peaceably, and quietly towards their employers, it being made to appear, the party accused being seasonably notified thereof, such person may be removed, and other meet and orderly person admitted in his room. orderly conduct. Ibid. § 33. A joint standing committee on printing to be ap pointed. Dec. 24, 1846. April 11, 1868. PRINTING. ORDINANCE.1 A joint standing committee on printing to be appointed. There shall be appointed annually, in the month of January, a joint standing committee of the city council, to be called the committee on printing, consisting of two members of the board of aldermen, and three members of the common council, 1 An ordinance relating to printing, passed December 24, 1846; amended December 29, 1866, April 11, 1868. Dec. 24, 1846. Dec. 29, 1866. whose duty it shall be to contract for the city printing, to see that the work performed, and the April 11, 1868. materials provided, are in conformity with the terms of the contract; and to approve all bills for printing. All contracts for city printing shall be approved and signed by the mayor. REGISTRY AND RETURNS OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, STATUTES. 1. City and town clerks to record births, marriages, and deaths. 2. Parents and others to give notice of births and deaths. 3. Physician to certify, &c. Penalty. 4. Sextons and others to make re turns to city and town clerks. 5. Clerk to transmit copies of re- 6. Record of clerk or certificate 7. Clerk, fees of, &c. Penalty. 10. Secretary to cause returns to STATUTES. 1. The clerk of each city and town shall receive or obtain, and record and index, the following facts concerning the births, marriages, and deaths therein, separately numbering and recording the same in the order in which he receives them, designating in separate columns: City and town births, marriages and deaths. See § 11. clerks to record G. S. 21, § 1. Births. G. S. 21, § 1. Marriages. Deaths. Parents and others Physician to cer- Sextons and others city and town clerks. Penalties. Ibid. § 4. In the record of births, the date of the birth, the place of birth, the name of the child (if it have any), the sex and color of the child, the names and the places of birth of the parents, the occupation of the father, the residence of the parents, and the date of the record; In the record of marriages, the date of the marriage, the place of marriage, the name, residence, and official station of the person by whom married, the names and the places of birth of the parties, the residence of each, the age and color of each, the condition of each (whether single or widowed), the occupation, the names of the parents, and the date of the record; In the record of deaths, the date of the death, the name of the deceased, the sex, the color, the condition (whether single, widowed, or married), the age, the residence, the occupation, the place of death, the place of birth, the names and places of birth of the parents, the disease or cause of death, the place of burial, and the date of the record. 2. Parents shall give notice to the clerk of their city or town of the births and deaths of their children; every householder shall give like notice of every birth and death happening in his house; the eldest person next of kin shall give such notice of the death of his kindred; the keeper of a workhouse, house of correction, prison, hospital, or almshouse, except the State almshouses at Tewksbury, Bridgewater, and Monson, and the master or other commanding officer of any ship shall give like notice of every birth and death happening among the persons under his charge. Whoever neglects to give such notice for the space of six months after a birth or death, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five dollars. 3. Any physician having attended a person during his last illness, shall, when requested within fifteen days after the decease of such person, forthwith furnish for registration a certificate of the duration of the last sickness, the disease of which the person died, and the date of his decease, as nearly as he can state the same. If any physician refuses or neglects to make such certificate, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars to the use of the town in which he resides. 4. Every sexton, undertaker, or other person having charge to make returns to of a burial-ground, or the superintendent of burials having charge of the obsequies or funeral rights preliminary to the interment of a human body, shall forthwith obtain and return to the clerk of the city or town in which the deceased resided or the death occurred, the facts required by this chapter, to be recorded by said officer concerning the deceased, and the person making such return shall receive from his city or town the fee of ten cents therefor. The clerk, upon recording such facts, shall forthwith give to the person making such return, a certificate that such return has been made, which certificate such person shall deliver to the person having charge of the interment, if other than himself, before the burial, when practicable, otherwise within seven days thereafter. When a burial takes place, and no certificate is delivered as aforesaid, the sexton, undertaker, or other person having charge of the interment, shall forthwith give notice thereof to the clerk, under penalty of twenty dollars. to secretary of State. 5. The clerk of each city and town shall annually, on or before To transmit copies the first day of February, transmit to the secretary of the commonwealth, certified copies of the records of the births, marriages, Ibid. § 5. and deaths which have occurred therein during the year ending on the last day of the preceding December. See § 11. &c., to be evidence. Ibid. § 6. 6. The record of the town clerk relative to any birth, mar- Record of clerk, riage, or death, shall be primâ facie evidence, in legal proceedings, of the facts recorded. The certificate signed by the town clerk 10 Allen, 161. for the time being shall be admissible as evidence of any such record. Penalty. See § 11. 7. The clerk shall receive from his city or town for obtaining, Fees of, &c. recording, indexing, and returning to the secretary of the commonwealth, the facts in relation to a birth, thirty cents; a mar- 1866 c. 138. riage, fifteen cents; for each death returned to him by the persons specified in sections two, three and four, of chapter twenty-one of the General Statutes, twenty cents for each of the first twenty entries, and ten cents for each subsequent entry; for each death not so returned, but by him obtained and recorded, twenty cents; but a city or town containing more than ten thousand inhabitants may limit the aggregate compensation allowed to their clerk. He shall forfeit a sum not less than twenty, nor more than one hundred dollars, for each refusal or neglect to perform any duty required of him by this chapter. 8. The superintendents of the State almshouses at Tewksbury, Bridgewater, and Monson shall obtain, record, and make return of the facts in relation to the births and deaths which occur in their respective institutions, in like manner as is required of town clerks. The clerks of said towns shall, in relation to the births and deaths of persons in said almshouses, be exempt from the duties otherwise required of them by this chapter. Superintendents of record, return, &c., Ibid. § 8. nish blank books and forms for re 9. The secretary shall, at the expense of the commonwealth, Secretary to fur prepare and furnish to the clerks of the several cities and towns, and to the superintendents of the State almshouses, blank books turns. of suitable quality and size to be used as books of record under this chapter, blank books for indexes thereto, and blank forms for returns, on paper of uniform size; and shall accompany the same Ibid. § 9. |